- 15 -
Command had had its doubts about the effectiveness of the chemical weapons and had therefore not sent as
many troops as it could have. The result of the first deployment of chlorine gas left Haber feeling bitter, for he
believed the attack could have been much more of a success.
14
The attack was successful though at proving to
the German military that Haber‟s ideas about chemicals being a serious form of weaponry in a war were true.
Haber was promoted to the rank of captain by the kaiser, who ignored the usual steps of promotion in order to
allow Haber the same status as members of the officer corps while he carried out further duties and
developments dealing with the gas warfare.
15
As one of his soldiers would later report, “All at once we and our
gas troops became great people…. Haber was ordered to appear before the Emperor and promoted from sergeant
of the reserves to captain. He appeared proudly in his new uniform, instead of the administrative uniform that we
called his „pest controller‟s outfit‟.”
16
Haber would maintain this rank throughout the war, though he had hoped
to rise even higher.
Over the next two weeks, the Germans would use their new weapon, the chlorine gas, against the enemy
four more times. At some point, between April 24 and April 29, Fritz Haber returned to his home in Berlin. He
stayed only until May 2, but in this short span of time, his life would change dramatically when his wife Clara
committed suicide on the night of May 2. Some would call Fritz Haber an extremely cold-hearted person, for he
returned to the front lines the night after his wife‟s demise. Yet one must consider the fact that for the previous
few months he had been surrounded by death. As his friend Richard Willstätter later stated: “It was a time in
which human life meant little. On the battlefields of Flanders a generation of German students was being mowed
down. On the ever-lengthening front lines the number of killed and wounded towered into the hundreds of
thousands and even higher.”
17
Perhaps Haber simply could not process all the terrible scenes that had only
recently played before him. His wife‟s death may have simply occurred at a time at which he already felt
emotionally numb. In a letter written six weeks after the passing of his wife, in June of 1915, Fritz Haber
explains the way in which he feels at this point in the war to Carl Enger, his former mentor in Karlsruhe:
For a month I doubted that I could keep going. But now the war, with its dreadful images and
constant demands on all my powers, has made me calmer. I was fortunate to be able to work at
- 16 -
the ministry for eight days, so I could see my son. Now I‟m at the front again. Working through
all the complications of war with unfamiliar people, I have no time to look left or right, to reflect
or sink into my own feelings. The only thing that lives in me is the fear that I won‟t be able to
carry on, or bear the enormous burdens placed on me…. It really does me good, every few days,
to be at the front, where the bullets fly. There, the only thing that counts is the moment, and the
sole duty is whatever one can do within the confines of the trenches…. But then it‟s back to
command headquarters, chained to the telephone, and I hear in my heart the words that the poor
woman once said, and, in a vision born of weariness, I see her head emerging from between
orders and telegrams, and I suffer.
18
In order to suppress his feelings, Fritz Haber dove straight into his work. The addition of Bayer‟s Carl
Duisberg to the advisory committee at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute at this time provided Haber with a
substantial link between his institute and industry. The Institute, by the beginning of February 1916, worked
solely for the military administration.
19
By 1917, Haber was at the head of an empire, controlling over 1,500
people, which included 150 scientists. He presided over eight different departments which were located in
various cities. The budget allotted to the institute inflated to over fifty times that of the budget during a time of
peace.
20
With all these resources available to him, Fritz Haber‟s horizons were virtually limitless, as he would
later state: “I was one of the mightiest men in Germany. I was more than a great army commander, more than a
captain of industry. I was the founder of industries; my work was essential for the economic and military
expansion of Germany. All doors were open to me.”
21
While the German army continued to use chlorine gas on the frontlines, Haber and his colleagues were
testing various other chemicals. On February 15, 1917, a meeting was held at the War Chemicals Incorporated
building
22
regarding ways to de-lice soldiers, as well as ways to destroy the moths that were causing havoc in the
flour mills.
23
In attendance were members of the Ministries of War, the Interior, and Finance; other
representatives from various institutes and ministries; and Fritz Haber. Haber was very interested in this meeting
because he knew that chemical weapons were a solution to the problem and that this could allow for their
continued research and development, even when the war ended. He stated that, “The experiences gained in gas
warfare must be further pursued and deepened,…essentially through scientific research within the framework of